Monday, September 3, 2018

Cultural Appropriation

Lately a great deal of hoopla is being raised in regard to
Cultural appropriation. Meaning roughly the use of minority symbols and making
it their own by the dominant culture (being the white one) or roughly like
that. Now I am not from the dominant culture but I still don’t understand this
concept. The people who are or may be doing it, they may have done it
innocently and not to offend the minority people from whom they have borrowed
temporarily the symbol. Some people who this later apologize but there are some
who double down and say that they did not meant to do no harm. But in these
times of cultural sensitivity or I should say political correction and also the
social media that has all consumed us, there is less mercy shown to these
apologies. I have read some of the comments regarding this new sympathy for the
cultural appropriateness and they have not been kind.

Now I may
not understand this but let me put it straight forward, maybe someone out there
will have a different perspective then being overtly bias. If a white person
tries to adopt a minority symbol, should people bend over themselves to
denounce this or should be a cause of celebration that this symbol which was
somehow unknown to the world outside of their cultural confinement has gained
wider acceptability. Some people are also getting emotionally sensitive to Yoga
now that the supposedly majority White population has embraced it
wholeheartedly. And regarding disrespecting one’s culture, can someone please
define what does even mean. In order to amend their past mistakes, if they have
done so, some people have become champions of minorities and everything which
is even in a slightest light mood gets shredded on social media. Anyway, I
don’t see any cultural appropriation when the white majority is adopting
minority stuff. To me, they are not making it their own but giving free
publicity and making it known to the wider outside world.